Not Just A Friendly Encounter Part 6

Not Just A Friendly Encounter Part 6Chapter 1 — Next VenueThe latest cycle had settled into its ordinary rhythm. The wall texts still carried both names. The climate system kept its low, constant hum. I had no new installation to oversee and no reason to keep him late.John remained under every term already set. The cage locked. The deeper device seated. The smoothed skin unchanged. I could read the continued state in the way he stood when he thought the observation had ended, the small economy of movement that never asked for relief.I watched him from across the main gallery while he adjusted a secondary label. Nothing in his posture requested a change. Nothing in mine offered one. The arrangement had become the quiet background against which the rest of the work continued.A low warmth rested under my sternum, familiar and unhurried. I no